All IPE articles in July 2006 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Features
In a world of their own
Size matters when it comes to pension funds. The bigger the fund, the better value it can give scheme members, through economies of scale on the investment side. On the other hand, when a single pension fund has to cover an exceptionally broad geographical area, the costs can mount up. ...
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Special Report
Strength in numbers
As the issue of corporate governance gains in importance so cooperation among shareholders on engagement issues has come to the fore as a vital tool in the management of pension fund portfolios. One prime example of this is the Netherlands. Michael Bruyn, director international client relations of Deminor highlights how ...
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Features
Persuading the silent majority
The slow development of Italian pension funds is mainly due to the lack of resources to finance them. Neither the companies nor the employees have ‘serious money’ to put into the funds. Contributions made to the pension funds by companies and employees so far have been almost nominal (ie, a ...
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Features
In the prime of life
At 25, the European Federation for Retirement Provision would appear to be in the prime of life having helped to steer the EU pension fund directive through. But it’s work is far from over, with a full agenda which includes helping to ensure the directive is indeed implemented as well ...
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Features
Global liquidity under threat?
Yield curve/duration An uncomfortable unease is permeating all asset classes across all markets. What will the Fed chairman Bernanke do next? Go for more tightening to show the markets that he too is as tough on inflation as his hugely respected predecessor? Or will he wait, giving the US economy ...
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Features
Russia gets taste of market
Non-state (private) pension funds (NSPFs) consider September 1992 the birth date of the pension industry in Russia. At that time President Yeltsin signed a decree making it possible to set up the first funds. In legal terms they had to be socially oriented not-for-profit organisations. Then such a status was ...
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Features
New models but same game
A lot is expected of pension trustees these days – more than is reasonable for them to cope with on their own or relying on just their current advice, some would say. However, they are being offered affordable extra help, including for the provision of investment banking-style services that they ...
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Features
Regional funds reach the parts
The recent pension reform, approved by the former Berlusconi government with law decree 252/05, permits Italian regions to set up ‘regional’ pension funds. This development seems quite unique in Europe: why should regions be empowered to set up their own pension funds? Under Italian law (law decree 124/93 reformed with ...
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Features
Go forth and multiply - or pay
Adult children have historically been the pensions providers of the elderly, providing their parents with financial support, shelter, or care. In the past, this arrangement gave couples a strong incentive for having children. Today, as the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal predicted, state pay-as-you-go (PAYG) systems have removed this incentive. Pensions ...
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Features
Fiduciary move for the long haul
The Dutch pension industry has seen two ground breaking initiatives in the past 12 months, both involving US based asset managers. The first was the decision by the electronics firm Philips to hand the management of its pension fund to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers The second was the decision of ...
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Features
Fascinated by formulas
What was your first full-time job – and do you remember what you were paid at the time? In 1961 I took what I intended to be a job during a school holiday at what turned out to be an actuarial bureau. I was paid 375 gilders (€170) per month. ...
